Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair • Hacker News Board

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#301

Post by ClumsyPilot » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 6:42 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #275

closetohome wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The search for an ongoing revenue stream is one of the most destructive forces in the tech industry. It leads to some very customer-hostile experiences.

That along with buying an entire new product for a minor gain. So what if the new car is super green? You are replacing one multiton hunk of metal and hazardous waste with a brand new multiton hunk of metal and hazardous waste, doubling your footprint of extraction of resources from the earth but netting the same utility. Or people who replace their perfectly functioning phone with a completely brand new phone to con…

As annoying as replacing a phone is, I don't think the argument works for ecological dimension. The car produces many times larger carbon footprint in the course of being used, than comes from its manufacturing.

Plus you are not destroying your old car, they are sold onwards and used for decades by someone anyways. You are probably enabling someone to replace a rusbucket two or three steps down the line, possibly in a condition so bad, it does not pass road worthiness tests.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#302

Post by efreak » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 6:53 AM UTC

takeda wrote: post #193

eastof wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can get really good support from Lineage OS for years to come. Been running it on all my android devices for years. The flagship models like Pixel usually have the best ongoing support.

Are there any flagship models that still have phone jack and an sdcard? Supposedly there's so many Android phones but all are removing things. You can get phones with these, but then their support doesn't last long and generally no one cares about maintaining a replacement OS like Lineage OS. My ideal phone would have: - size that does fit in a hand - phone jack - sdcard - hardware keyboard - ir blaster - stereo spea…

The ir blaster would be nice, but personally I'm more interested in wireless charging (and having nfc in a us device that _isn't_ flagship... Why is it always only available in eu versions...)

Hardware keyboard isn't something I need personally, but it would certainly be useful; At least add a T9 keyboard, it shouldn't be hard to adapt autocorrect for that.

Good battery life isn't enough: I'd rather have a battery that's twice the size (6-7Ah). This makes it 5mm thicker and 5mm thicker? That's fine with me.

Not everyone cares about the camera on their phone. Dedicated cameras are still a thing, and cheap ones still work better than your expensive smartphone. Being able to read QR and bar codes is enough for me.

And to get it off my chest: give me back my buttons. I want hardware buttons on the side. Give me a home button (I don't care how big the bezel is) and instead of having an assistant button, add a pair of customizable buttons to the side of the screen (scroll for browsers and ebooks, skip/seek media, browser history, launch an app, etc). The best thing about desktop/laptop is being able to set hotkeys

And as someone who likes using tablets, please make your tablets support cases/covers that don't require a clamshell. The Nvidia shield tablet (at least) has magnetic notches in the side, which match up to magnetic tabs on the side of the cover, allowing it to be attached/removed easily. Clamshells are annoying.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#303

Post by [deleted] » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 6:54 AM UTC

suzzer99 wrote: post #266

Semiapies wrote: post #236

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that not having a revenue stream is one of the most destructive forces to tech (or other) companies , and people like to keep their jobs.

As I type this I'm looking at the Onkyo stereo and Polk speakers I bought in college. I'm 50 years old. I can't help but think they regret making these things that durable.

[deleted]

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#304

Post by efreak » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 6:55 AM UTC

linuxftw wrote: post #118

netsharc wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I ordered a cheap Android phone the other day because installing a non-OEM OS like Lineage mean... banking software doesn't work. I have an older phone but the last stock ROM on it is Android 5, although it is currently running Lineage with Android 9. So I bought that phone to keep at stock and have a phone I can do my banking with. Come to think of it, I should just switch banks!

You can side-load firefox and just use the bank's mobile site.

Side loading is unnecessary. Firefox is available on both the play store and Fdroid (not sure if it's in the default Fdroid repo, but I know there's at least one third party repo with official builds)

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#305

Post by apatters » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 6:57 AM UTC

filmfact wrote: post #296

CamelCaseName wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1. Windows 7 was supported with security updates for over 10 years (2009-2020). Second to only Windows XP (13 years) 2. They offered free upgrades to Windows 10 for a long time (a year?) 3. Replacement cycles for consumer desktops/laptops are short relative to OS cycles, with some internet stats saying ~5 years on average. 4. You can still run Windows 7, you just won't get security updates. You're free to repair it o…

>>> Windows 7 was supported with security updates for over 10 years (2009-2020). Second to only Windows XP (13 years) So basically forever = 10 years as far as you are concerned? I have an elixir of immortality that you might be interested in.

Of course not, but 10 years is a lot better than Google's 3-5 for Chromebooks. Though consistent with their habit of nuking their own products, it seems like a foolish business move by Google--I too was burned by this and will never buy a Chromebook again.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#306

Post by dejv » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 6:58 AM UTC

cletus wrote: post #210

What many people may not realize is just how long-lived a lot of farm equipment is. There will be tractors out there still working that are 75 years old and just keep getting repaired. Obviously the manufacturers would like to sell those farmers tractors more often than that or, in the very least, generate a revenue stream from existing hardware and honestly that's what I see a lot of computing in vehicles as being:…

Yeah, I do own 30 years old tractor and it work just fine as is very simple machine and there are very few things that could break. This is why machines of this grade just keep their price: after initial drop the price just stays the same and demand is strong. I can see tractors from 70s changing hands on regular basis

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#307

Post by jay_kyburz » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 7:00 AM UTC

squish78 wrote: post #284

skinkestek wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> but I worry that its just the Prepper in me trying to come out. Fixed it for you :-) There's nothing crazy with a little prepping, is it? Many of the practices are even recommended around here (stock up on food with long shelf life, keep clean water around, some iodine, a battery powered radio etc)

There’s nothing wrong with a little prepping but you have to take that to the scenario’s logical conclusion. What happens if you run out of supplies and there is no deus ex machina narrative and you are faced with starvation.

The hard part will be deciding when to pick up the family and move somewhere with a climate conducive to farming. I have a nice big block now, but live in a very arid area and rely on civilisation to deliver water to my house.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#308

Post by ClumsyPilot » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 7:02 AM UTC

andrepd wrote: post #223

FactolSarin wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft products get supported basically forever. But they're not cool/trendy.

Windows 7 is due to stop being updated very soon, all the while the only alternative is to downgrade into Windows 10.j sure don't call that "basically forever".

I have a game written for windows in 1999, and the same exe runs on my Dell xps. That's support.

Would you bet your house on the same happening on any other platform?

Android drops APIs left and right, apps just a couple years old stop working. MacOS is even worse, and Linux graphics stack is beyond comprehension.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#309

Post by NeedMoreTea » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 7:07 AM UTC

Semiapies wrote: post #236

closetohome wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The search for an ongoing revenue stream is one of the most destructive forces in the tech industry. It leads to some very customer-hostile experiences.

The problem is that not having a revenue stream is one of the most destructive forces to tech (or other) companies , and people like to keep their jobs.

Hardly. There are countless firms who built their reputation on and survived quite happily making durable products. You might find pages of their early products filling eBay and the like, still going strong. A few are still adhering to those built to last attributes, most have transitioned into "as cheap as we can get away with, but with our valuable brand and logo" as has most of the whole world, including those offering coffee pod and headphone (ffs!) subscriptions.

The steady progression of new people - some created every day, new homeowners and what have you was enough to give a vibrant business, and ongoing sales.

What changed was the deal.

Pre 1980s most companies tried to balance the needs of all - staff, customers, local area, and shareholders. Post 1980s only the shareholders count, all else is secondary. Products and offerings are made and subscribed accordingly. The few folk still making stuff to last seem to have an anachronistic worldview to go with it. Perhaps still care about craftsmanship, repairability, and reputation, rather than built in obsolescence, subscriptions and DRM'd parts. Now they can sell you the thing 15 times, perhaps 12 of those without good cause apart from greed.

Re: Nebraska farmers vote overwhelmingly for Right to Repair

#310

Post by yc_2345 » Tue, Dec 17, 2019, 7:08 AM UTC

FactolSarin wrote: post #194

aguyfromnb wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This month, Google shipped the last update for my Pixel phone. The hardware is functional and in great shape, but I don't think there are any truly viable ways for me to keep it secure. The same thing happened recently with the Chromebook I purchased for my significant other. She's a very light computer user, so we thought it was a perfect device. It was great, until one day she received a message saying, essential…

Microsoft products get supported basically forever. But they're not cool/trendy.

In fact, developers make a loss on the unit productivity of their time by using Microsoft products, but make it up on volume because they use those products forever.